Pacific Crest is accredited through the AdvancedED. All of Pacific Crest’s Primary and Elementary teachers are trained through Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) training centers. Our Middle School teachers attend Montessori trainings for the adolescent level; these are offered by the North American Montessori Teachers Association (NAMTA) in partnership with AMI.

Dorrie Knapp-Guy

Head of School

Growing up in a small college town in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Dorrie’s years in Montessori education are rooted in her own early childhood experiences in a Montessori Primary school. With a BA from Smith College in Northampton, MA and experience working at Pacific Crest beginning in 2005, she went on to earn an AMI Elementary diploma from the Washington Montessori Institute in DC and a Masters of Education, with a focus on adolescent education, from Loyola University in 2009. She returned to Pacific Crest School in 2009 to teach in the Middle School and in Lower and Upper Elementary classrooms.
In late 2015 she stepped into administration as the school's Operations Manager, and she became Head of School in 2016. She completed program certificates in NAMTA's Whole-School Montessori Management and the NWAIS New Heads Institute in 2016.
Dorrie lives in Ballard with her husband and two nieces. She finds inspiration through her work with the dedicated and creative teachers, staff, parents and children of Pacific Crest as each discovers with joy their own unique gifts and character.